Staff Directory

Dr. Jeffrey Kane - Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dr. Jeffrey Kane was appointed vice president for Academic Affairs in July, 2002. Prior to his appointment, he served for one year as the acting vice president for Academic Affairs, and for the five years prior, as the dean of the School of Education at the LIU Post campus.

Dr. Kane is responsible for the academic quality of the educational programs taught by LIU faculty members across all of the campuses. During his tenure, he has used his position to further extend the University's focus on students and their educational needs. Working with the deans and faculty members, he has helped to establish numerous innovative programs that offer students new and dynamic opportunities to further their education. With recently developed programs such as a doctoral degree in interdisciplinary educational studies at LIU Post, a joint master's degree in social work at LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post, doctoral degrees in pharmacy and physical therapy at LIU Brooklyn, and an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree in forensic science at LIU Post, he has guided the University in aggressively pursuing its mission of "Access and Excellence" in higher education.

Dr. Kane has led the way toward expanding the ranks of full-time faculty members while continuing to work with them to further develop the quality of teaching across the institution. He also has promoted effectively the importance of faculty scholarly activity as an intellectual foundation for an institution that is devoted to discovery and to the pursuit of knowledge. While meeting the demands of his current position, Dr. Kane has continued to write on matters related to the growth of the human mind including, most notably, contributing to and editing a volume of original essays titled "Education, Information and Transformation," which was published by Merrill Prentice Hall.

Dr. Lori Knapp - Deputy Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dr. Lori Knapp was appointed associate vice president for Academic Affairs in September 2003 and promoted to deputy vice president in fall 2008. Prior to joining the Office of Academic Affairs, Dr. Knapp was the chair of the Department of Nursing at LIU Post, where she also served as co-chair of the LIU Post Campus Middle States Steering Committee and the LIU Post Campus Assessment Steering Committee. Dr. Knapp holds a Ph.D. in Nursing Science from New York University.

As deputy vice president for Academic Affairs, Dr. Knapp is responsible for the day-to-day staff operations of the Office of Academic Affairs. Working closely with Vice President Jeff Kane, she provides leadership for the PeopleSoft/Oracle ERP system implementation; oversees certain academic budgets; conducts faculty reappointment reviews; oversees technology initiatives in academic labs across the University; supervises faculty computer replacements; and oversees outcomes assessment and faculty development and initiatives in the area of teaching and learning. Dr. Knapp also chairs the University Web-mediated Instruction Task Force; serves on the University ERP Project Management Team and chairs several ERP subcommittees; and serves on the University Assessment and TLI Advisory Committees.

Virginia Ann DeFrancesco - Director of Academic Administration

Virginia joined the Office of Academic Affairs in March 2007, having worked in corporate and consumer banking for over 20 years. As a business strategist, marketing manager and customer service trainer, she led the implementation of the My Chase, My Choice marketing strategy for the Credit Card Division at JPMorgan Chase. She managed a team of 35 professionals who prepared 4,500 customer service advisors to quickly and accurately handle marketing, operational and customer issues. She also led the customer impact team as JPMorgan Chase and BankOne merged platforms. Virginia earned a B.S. from Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y., where she majored in finance and business management.

In her role as Director of Academic Administration, she manages university-wide protocol for submission and registration of new academic programs, as well as program revisions, with New York State Education Department (NYSED), and serves as liaison to NYSED maintaining the LIU academic program inventory. In coordinating the accreditation and re-accreditation of academic programs with various accrediting bodies, she provides leadership and guidance to academic leaders in preparation of accreditation self-study reports and site visits. She also manages the university-wide student evaluation process, overseeing the processing of course inventory for student evaluations each semester. Compilation and publication of university-wide campus annual bulletins are managed by the Director of Academic Administration to assure NYSED requirements are met and assuring prospective and enrolled students are informed about admissions, registrar services, financial services, academic programs, campus services, resources, and facilities. Through the endowed David Newton and Abraham Krasnoff Awards, she oversees the recognition of faculty for teaching and scholarly excellence.

Gabrielle Eskin - Project Manager

Gabrielle graduated from the University of Miami in 2006 with a B.A. in Psychology. She joined the Office of Academic Affairs in Fall 2006, and continued her education at LIU Post, graduating with an M.B.A. in the College of Management in January 2014.

As executive assistant to the deputy vice president for Academic Affairs, Gabrielle works on a range of projects to further promote the use of technology in education. She is responsible for processing faculty computer replacements and academic computer lab equipment requests, handling student complaints and placing advertisements for position vacancies. In addition, she assists in the planning and implementation of Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLI) events, Teaching with Technology Institute (TTI) events and the Krasnoff/Newton Awards.

Dr. Kathleen Gill - Associate VP for Institutional Effectiveness

Dr. Kathleen Gill was appointed Associate VP for Institutional Effectiveness in July 2014. She has extensive institutional research, institutional effectiveness, and assessment experience. As Associate VP for Institutional Effectiveness, Dr. Gill provides leadership, oversight, and coordination of university-wide assessment and evaluation processes related to institutional effectiveness, strategic planning and budgeting, and student learning. She is responsible for fostering a culture of integrated planning and assessment at LIU.

Previously, as LIU University Director of Assessment, Dr. Gill developed a team of Faculty Assessment Fellows with whom she created and implemented a process for assessing student learning. This process was very well received by the last Middle States Evaluation Team. In other prior positions, she served as Assistant to the Provost for Institutional Research at Franklin Pierce College in NH and Associate Director of the Policy Center on the First Year of College in NC. Dr. Gill holds a B.A. in Anthropology/Sociology from Lafayette College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Pat Harvey - Institutional Review Board (IRB) Administrator

Pat Harvey was appointed the University’s IRB administrator in 2014. In her current role in the Office of Sponsored Research, Pat works as the University’s IRB liaison involving human subjects research and federal/state regulatory compliance management efforts. She provides direct support to IRB committee and chairs; reviews submitted applications for completeness and adherence to federal and NY State regulations; closely works with investigators during entire IRB application, submission, and approval process; manages and update University-wide IRB applications database; schedules and attend monthly IRB meetings; prepares and distributes meeting minutes; prepares and distributes IRB decision follow-up correspondence; actively work with faculty to conduct in-class IRB related presentations, and Q&A sessions.

She has also served as Project Coordinator for the Associate Vice President for Online Learning, coordinating projects associated with several web related teaching with technology endeavors; ensured compliance with HEA regulations for online learning; and assisted with communications and updates to the University community on the topics of instructional technology and blended/online learning. Prior to joining the University, Pat spent over ten years managing audits of U.S. hospital and pharmacy information systems, consulting and providing distance training services to field auditors. She began her career at the University in 2004. She has earned a B.S. Health Information Management program at LIU Post and went on to earn an M.S. in Drug Regulatory Affairs at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, LIU Brooklyn. Pat is currently pursuing her doctoral degree.

Carol Hernandez, Junior Instructional Designer- LIU Post

Carol Hernandez joined LIU in 2014. She’ll be working with faculty who are weaving various instructional technologies into their teaching repertoire.

Prior to joining LIU Carol had another career as a journalist at Newsday, the Dayton Daily News and The Miami Herald. As a staff writer at Newsday, Carol was on the team awarded the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the TWA Flight 800 crash. In 1996, she was named a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for National Reporting for the Dayton Daily News’ investigative series “Military Secrets.” In 2009 she joined Stony Brook University as an adjunct professor of news literacy at the School of Journalism. While at SBU she also earned a master’s in higher education administration and spent time as a graduate assistant in SBU’s Faculty Center: Teaching, Learning and Technology. She loves learning, coffee and deadlines. She is thrilled to join LIU’s instructional design team.

Dr. Andrea McLoughlin was appointed as an Assessment Specialist for the LIU Post and LIU Regional campuses in 2012. Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Andrea provides the LIU Post and LIU Regionals campuses with educational assessment expertise to help build high-quality program-level assessment of student learning, and assists in the identification and support of faculty assessment needs at the University. She provides leadership in the creation and management in all processes related to the assessment of student learning at those campuses – this includes overseeing the assessment review process for student learning in academic programs; collaborating in assessment policy development; acting as a liaison among varied assessment stakeholders; and participating in decision-making for, and implementation of, assessment-related professional development materials and experiences for faculty.

Dr. McLoughlin holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to joining the Office of Academic Affairs, Dr. McLoughlin had been a full-time faculty member at LIU Post in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction since 1998, and had served as Acting Chair for that Department. She is a Newton Award recipient whose teaching experience has always focused on high-quality instruction and assessment. She has training in instruction and assessment design, professional development, program evaluation, quantitative and qualitative educational research methods, and the educational change process.

Dr. Julia Miller, Instructional Designer - LIU Brooklyn

Dr. Julia Miller has extensive experience as a teacher, trainer, writer, and instructional designer in corporate and university settings. Since 1998, Dr. Miller has been working in the corporate training sector, designing and delivering effective online training programs for Fortune 500 companies across various industries and content areas. From 2005-2010, Dr. Miller served as a senior learning consultant for SAI Global, a leading provider of award-winning online educational programs in ethics and compliance-oriented subjects. At SAI Global, Dr. Miller provided consultative services in the areas of: curriculum design, internal marketing, program evaluation, training delivery, and learning administration.

Prior to SAI, Dr. Miller served in a variety of leadership roles in e-learning organizations, including Vice President of Professional Services at eHigherEducation, where she gained a wealth of online production experience; Director of faculty development at NYUonline, where she taught classes in effective online facilitation in a synchronous learning software tool; and Online Producer at Kaplan Educational Centers, where she designed Kaplan’s first online SAT test prep course.

Dr. Miller holds a Ph.D. in English with a specialization in Irish literature. She has taught and published in her field and has over ten years of experience as a teacher of writing in academe. Her eclectic background includes studies at Second City’s Improv training center; work in a theater program for homeless youth; and engagement in professional storytelling. She is pleased to have the opportunity to wed her creativity with her passion for teaching in her duties as an instructional designer at LIU.

Amanda Riego – Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs

Amanda Riego joined the Office of Academic Affairs in May 2014. Prior to LIU, Amanda held positions in both the public and higher education sectors including Columbia University and the State University of New York. As Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, she handles matters related to the campus Collective Bargaining Agreements including sabbatical applications, promotion and tenure, the professional development fund, and non-tenure track appointments. Amanda also assists the Vice President with budget issues and faculty hires. Lastly, she works on special projects including communications with LIU schools/colleges across the University campuses.

Amanda has a B.A. from Manhattan College, M.P.A. from CUNY Baruch College and a M.A. in Higher and Postsecondary Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Peggy Riggs - Academic Budget Officer

Upon receiving her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from LIU Post's School of Professional Accountancy in May 1989, Peggy went to work for KPMG Peat Marwick (now KPMG LLP) as a public auditor. In August 1992, she returned to LIU in the role of academic budget administrator. In 1996, the title of the position was changed to academic budget officer.

As academic budget officer, Peggy works with the deans, the vice president for Academic Affairs and the Finance Office to develop a fiscal academic budget, including salaries, operating expenses and capital. Peggy reviews and authorizes budget transactions, assists the vice president in capital allocation and administrative salary review and assists the Finance Office with the tuition and fee schedule. She also assists the deans in preparing new program budgets, prepares adjunct/overload analysis reports, analyzes operating accounts and special program accounts at the end of the fiscal year and produces income/cost statements.

Kathryn S. Rockett - Director, Office of Sponsored Research

Kathryn S. Rockett ("Kitty") has been the assistant vice president for Sponsored Research at LIU since January 2000. Prior to joining the University she was the business manager for a small company in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. and for 16 years before that, she was the assistant vice provost and director of the Office of Sponsored Research Services at SUNY Stony Brook. Kitty has a B.S. from Radford University in Virginia; an M.A. in Liberal Studies from SUNY Stony Brook; and an M.B.A. from LIU Post.

As the assistant vice president and director, she supervises the day-to-day activities of the staff in the Office of Sponsored Research, which disseminates information on external support for research, training and scholarly activity to the academic community, and provides assistance in the preparation of proposals to sponsors. The Office also represents the institution and coordinates with institutional officers, on behalf of faculty members, in the negotiation of award conditions with sponsors. The Office of Sponsored Research staff assists in determining project needs within the complex sponsor requirements that apply to the use of external funds including the need for special review and approval for the use of human subjects and animals in both research and educational activities.

Spencer Simon - Director of Academic Workload

Spencer Simon has worked in private higher education administration for the past 23 years in the field of financial management, serving as a senior accountant of grants and sponsored projects, an academic budget director and an assistant controller. Spencer also has served on several academic strategic planning committees, developed and implemented budgeting and accounting policies and procedures, and initiated and guided the development of a computer program to track workload. He earned an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from Adelphi University in 1998, and an undergraduate degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from SUNY Oswego.

The director of academic workload reports directly to the vice president for academic affairs, and is responsible for overseeing and providing guidance to all users of the faculty workload system. Responsibilities include working with administrative assistants, chairpersons, deans, payroll and computer programmers in the daily maintenance and operations of the system. In addition, Spencer works closely with the senior management team on all aspects of faculty workload. He also is responsible for providing and preparing financial and workload analysis of programs, divisions and schools, and he works with other University administrators regarding matters pertaining to the faculty contracts.

Dr. Wendy Williams, Senior Instructional Designer – LIU Post

Wendy Williams joined LIU in 2014 and leads the instructional design team. She partners with faculty to design and develop blended and online courses and programs and to integrate instructional technologies into their teaching strategy. She conducts faculty development workshops, including the ‘Blended and Online Course Basics,’ taught online once per semester, and provides one-on-one consultations and group faculty training for instructional technology and pedagogy. She also coordinates the Online Learning Consortium (formerly Sloan-C) College Pass Program, which provides faculty with access to online courses, and is a member of a number of LIU committees and project teams leading strategic planning on ePortfolios, innovation in teaching, and faculty development.

Dr. Williams came to LIU from the City University of New York (CUNY), where she had been teaching CUNY faculty to create online and blended courses and taught communications and anthropology for the School of Professional Studies. She has taught fully online courses since 2007, including leading many cohorts of students in the creation of academic ePortfolios. While working on her Ph.D. in anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center, she also completed the certificate in interactive technology and pedagogy. Her doctoral research focused on information technology and the Chinese diaspora. Her background combines scholarly training with twenty years of management experience at media companies Time Warner (Turner Broadcasting and Warner Books) and Bertelsmann (Bantam Books).